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Insects are the worst enemies of a farmer
than pests as they are difficult to get
rid off. Particularly, Beetles, a large
class in the insect group i.e. one fourth
of the variety of insects that exists belong
to this category, were obviously high in
population makes the fields vulnerable.
Beetle breeds in almost all the places except
near oceans and sub-zero districts. They
are characterized generally by outer covering
sheathes called elytra under which the wings
of the insect recline. Borers and weevils
are kinds of beetles having the same physical
character like presence of elytra. Beetles
are not solely destructive in nature but
also act beneficial sometimes in controlling
certain other insects. The life cycle of
beetles starts with laying of eggs over
leaves and seeds. The purpose of such laying
medium is for feeding larvae during its
initial stages. They mostly infect the outer
parts of a plant which is opposite in the
case of borers and weevils that they infect
the inner part of stem. Eradication process
of beetles is done at its initial larvae
stage instead of doing it at mature stage
that is probably difficult.
Steps to control beetles:
First step in controlling beetles will be
the examination of the insect egg patches
over the plant leaves in the cultivated
area because as mentioned before it is easy
to control their population at larvae stage.
The application of Neem
oil plays a vital role in beetle control
and borer as well. So use of Neem
oil spray in the area particularly identified
with eggs can exterminate them. Neem oil
can not only be used after the insect attack
but can also be used as preventive treatment.
Spray Neem oil once or twice a week for
effective results.
In case of borers, it is a hectic job of
discovering their eggs as they lay inside
the stem by making a whole. Thus the treatment
is done by keep fertilizing the tree means
feeding the borers at the early stage and
once the larvae comes out of the hole; the
neem oil is then applied to destroy them.
Beetles that are found attacking the lower
parts of the plants are treated with certain
beneficial nematodes. Silo, a storage place
of grains is considered to be one of the
suitable breeding media of beetles. So it
is also important to examine the presence
of eggs in such place and the treatment
is done by mixing of diatomaceous fine earth
particles with the grains.
Author: Bob morrison - neem
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